Baseball: LCC keeps shutout despite 2 day wait to complete game

May 28—COLDWATER — Good pitching takes care of a lot of things, including erasing worries about how finishing a district semifinal baseball game two days after it began might affect your team.

Lima Central Catholic finished off a 3-0 win over St. Henry in a Division IV district semifinal at Coldwater on Friday in the completion of a game that was halted by rain in the top of the fifth inning on Wednesday night.

The Thunderbirds will now play Lincolnview at 6 tonight at Coldwater for the district championship.

LCC led 3-0 when the game was stopped Wednesday night. But even with a lead, having to wait two days to finish it was unexplored territory.

"We've talked about having mental toughness and control the things you can control and not worry about the things you can't. But this isn't one of those situations you think about," LCC coach John Schnieders said.

"Our kids did a great job of coming in and being loose and executing and making plays. This is a situation where they (St. Henry) came in here with nothing to lose and we have the expectation of holding on. We really preached to our guys that this isn't about holding on. This was a three-inning game we needed to win.

"We didn't score any runs today but I think our kids really bought into that mindset of you can't just sit around and hope it happens, you have to go make it happen," he said.

After Billy Bourk struck out nine batters and allowed just two hits in four innings on the mound on Wednesday night, Carson Parker also dominated St. Henry's hitters on Friday. He allowed three hits, two of them of the infield variety, struck out six and walked two in three innings.

"Billy set the tone for us Wednesday by throwing four innings and having nine strikeouts. He set the tone for everything in that game and I came in and just picked up right where he left off and finished it up," Parker said.

"Yesterday it rained all day and there was nothing to do and I'm just sitting there thinking, 'Oh, what if they do this, what if they do that?' But I knew if I just came out and threw my best we'd be fine," he said.

Before Wednesday night's rain, Jacob Lauck drove in all three of LCC's runs with a bases-loaded walk and a two-run single. The senior first baseman has all four of the Thunderbirds' RBIs in their last two tournament games.

By not pitching since Wednesday, Bourk will be available to pitch against Lincolnview and its top pitcher, Landon Price.

Bourk was probably at his best all season in his four innings on Wednesday night.

"He was really disappointed when the lightning and rain came because he was really on. He was just overpowering. He's got that kind of stuff. He had everything working, he was spotting and he was throwing as hard as I've seen him throw," Schnieders said.

Reach Jim Naveau at 567-242-0414.